Hey guys - was checking all my fluids earlier and noticed that in the coolant reserve tank, there was a brownish/black gunk. So before I freak out and assume a blown head gasket, I wanted to see what you guys thought.

I read up a bit on some of the usual symptoms of a bad/blown gasket, and nothing: there's no oil in the radiator, no white smoke from the tail pipe, no unexplained coolant loss or over-heating, and no foamy, milky consistency to the oil.

I know these are just a few of the symptoms, and a bad gasket can only really be detected by tearing everything down. So, are there any others things I can inspect to start ruling things out? Any info or direction you guys might have would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

Is the brown/black stuff just at the bottom of the coolant overflow tank or is the (normally green) coolant brown/black?

If it is just at the bottom of the tank, I'd just remove the tank, pour the coolant into a temp storage container, clean the gunk out of the overflow tank and then replace the coolant.

I can't tell you what exactly it is but once you have cleaned the tank, you will be able to determine how quickly the gunk accumulates. I haven't looked at mine to see if there is anything in it but I will tonight when I get home.

Pete

 

If you see that in your radiator id be worried (could be two things, head gasket or just old un maintained fluid). If its just in the overflow, then its just old fluid. Nothing alarming. Just flush out the tank and refill.

 

i just did the same thing i cleaned out the reservoir and replaced the fluid. id definitely change all the fluid soon like i plan to do

 

Hey dutch, i agree with maxfli. just dump it and then sometime do a coolant flush. A kind of easy way to see if it is the head gasket... if you have a bad gasket and it is bad from a coolant hole to the piston bore.. you will have smoke from the tailpipe and if you take off the rad cap it can look like the coolant is bubbling..the gases getting sent to the coolant.\
If it is a bad gasket that conects to any oiling holes.. check your oil. drain ands see if you have any when its draining, usually the antifreeze willcomeout first then the oil since the oil will float on water.

just some ideas to kinda put yourmind at ease.. by the way. you are in the area so to speak. Mass. post some pics of the ride. in the sig it looks pretty nice.

 

i had the same thing in my turbo Sentra, i just cleaned out the overflow botle and did a coolant flush and i never saw it again.

must be old fluid ..


blown head gasket symptom can also have fuel smell in the coolant.

 

you should also check your oil to see if its watery

 

Stop leak may have that consistency as well.

 

sorry for the long *** delay - not on here much these days! thanks to everyone for all the info. the most recent oil change, oil was clean - no foam or antifreeze mixture. i actually did use some stop leak crap last year when i had a small leak in the radiator (should have mentioned that i guess), so it could be residual from that. next step will be to clean the reservoir and do a complete flush. i'll keep everyone updated on that.

 

If it was Barr's stop leak, or similar, rather than the silver powder stuff, pretty much guaranteed that's what it is.

 

u probably have a small leak in ur HG, so some oil is getting in the coolant, change ur coolant and just keep an eye out for it.